Crock pot comfort food

Can the crock pot produce anything that doesn’t just scream “comfort food?” Mine surely cannot. Or at least it hasn’t yet. I think part of it has to do with how the crock pot always makes your home smell so wonderful. I love coming home on days when I know I have a meal cooking away in the magical crock pot.

Luckily today’s recipe has all the flavor and qualities of “comfort food,” but no where near the calories and fat. That is always a plus! I mentioned earlier this week that I was going to try some of the freezer cooking ideas found off of a pinterest pin, but I didn’t succeed at the whole freezer part. Instead, I just chopped a bunch of veggies and stored them in a freezer gallon zip lock bag for use the next day. It was still really helpful, and cut prep time to about 2 minutes instead of 5 minutes on the day of.

This recipe is kind of a kitchen sink recipe. What is a kitchen sink recipe? Well, it is a meal that has pretty much everything but the kitchen sink in it! My fridge was overflowing with fresh vegetables this week, so I went through and pretty much chopped up anything that caught me eye. You can’t go wrong with combinations, so if you don’t have some of these items on hand, no big deal! Or if you have a few other items you would like to add, toss them in!

Place chicken breasts and quinoa in the crock pot. Cover with some chicken stock. Pour remaining ingredients over top.

Stir together and let cook for 6 hours. Serve in large bowls. The small bowls I used got me no where near the serving size I wanted.

This was supposed to be a barbecue type chicken, but it didn’t really turn out that way for me. Wes said he could taste a bit of barbecue flavor, but regardless, the flavor was delicious. I would definitely recommend this meal. Full of fresh veggies and very filling, plus a whole bunch of leftovers perfect for freezing or eating throughout the week.

Wes, LindsAy, and I are going at 10:30 to stand in line with a bunch of teenagers and probably a few other middle aged adults for the 12:01 IMAX showing of The Hunger Games. Am I excited? Oh yea. Am I worried about how I am going to stay up until midnight? Most definitely, but am banking on sheer adrenaline to get me through.

My bedtime is 10:30. Midnight will be a stretch for me.

Every time the preview comes on I get chills. Wes thinks it is hilarious and makes fun of me. Guess I’m still a teenager at heart.